The purpose of the study was find to out how to best reduce police dispatches to burglar alarms. Using an approach called the "alarm factor," researchers were able to determine how many times police officers were sent to a home for a false alarm. Tracking this factor helps communities by letting them compare their rates to other cities and figuring out what the best ways are to improve the system, the Alarm Industry Research and Education Foundation said.
Key author of the report and assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Kristie Blevins said that "alarm systems are a proven method of protecting life and property. One of the advantages of this method is that a jurisdiction can accurately track its false alarm factor over time to see if the number of false alarms per registered user has changed."
While investing in a security system is a proven way to deter home invasions, the decision about what type to install should be made only after careful research and consultation of a professional.
